1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to ring type multi-address communications.
2. Related Background Art
In the case of a conventional facsimile equipment, transmission of one data to a plurality of addresses (or destinations) has generally been carried out by means of multi-address transmission, that is, a transmission method, which transmits identical data to a plurality of addresses by executing sequential facsimile communications with addresses targeted for transmission. However, since multi-address transmission is executed to all the addresses from one facsimile equipment unit, this transmission method has resulted in the uneven distribution of communication costs among the units of facsimile equipment, and has had a problem of the impossibility of receiving from other facsimile equipment units during the execution of multi-address transmission. As one example of the measures to solve such a problem, there has been presented a ring type multi-address transmission method, which is designed to sequentially perform transmission from a facsimile equipment FAXA to FAXB, from FAXB to FAXC, from FAXC to FAXD, and from FAXD to FAXA.
However, such a ring type multi-address transmission method has had a drawback that it is impossible to determine whether the operator of a facsimile equipment having received data regarding ring type multi-address transmission has seen the data or not. Particularly, in activities of in-town circle meetings, and so on, it is important to verify whether the users of all the addresses have seen the data or not.